Charles Spurgeon Commentary Philippians 1:21

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." — Philippians 1:21 (ASV)

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

To me to live is Christ. If he lived, he lived to know more of Christ, studying His person and learning by his happy experience so that he increased in his knowledge of his Lord and Saviour. If he lived, he lived to imitate Christ more closely, becoming more and more conformed to His image. If he lived, he lived to make Christ more and more known to others, and to enjoy Christ more Himself.

In these four senses, he might well say, For to me to live is Christ, – to know Christ more, to imitate Christ more, to preach Christ more, and to enjoy Christ more. And to die is gain, because death, he felt, would free him from all sin and from all doubts as to his state in the present and the future. It would be gain to him, for then he would no longer be tossed upon the stormy sea, but he would be safe upon the land where he was bound. It would be gain to him, for then he would be free from all temptations both from within and from without. It would be gain to him, for then he would be delivered from all his enemies; there would be no cruel Nero, no blaspheming Jews, no false brethren then.

It would be gain to him, for then he would be delivered from all suffering; there would be no more shipwrecks, no more being beaten with rods, or being stoned, for him then. Dying, too, would be gain for him, for he would then be free from all fear of death; and having once died, he would die no more forever. It would be gain to him, for he would find in heaven better and more perfect friends than he would leave behind on earth; and he would find, above all, his Saviour, and be a partaker of His glory. This is a wide subject, and the more we think over it, the more sweetness we shall get out of it.